Zutara- Fire, Water, Steam ✔

Frustrations

Zuko's POV

That was unexpected I thought as the two water benders walked away. I was still in shock as I looked at Katara and Uncle. They were both wearing huge smiles and chuckled at my face. Katara kissed my cheek and before I could speak a different water bender came rushing up.

"Katara! Master Paku needs your help. He needs to return to the school because Master Bumi called asking for both of you. It sounded important." She said, slightly panting. I could tell Katara was hesitant about leaving me but I wasn't the issue right now.

"Go," I said, her face conflicted as she stared at me, "I'll be fine. I'm in a secret bunker with a ton of benders and people who care about me. Plus you know this is more important." She finally nodded before kissing me and following the girl. I watched as she ran, each step hurting me but knowing it was the right move.

"That was a wise move you made, Nephew," Uncle spoke. He could tell the struggle I had inside as he gave me a soft smile.

"I think I'm going to go for a small walk. I've been stuck sitting for too long now." I said with a smile of my own. He responded with a nod as I stood slowly still in some pain. As I followed the path, I noticed Sokka off to the side which I thought was odd. I thought he would've left by now. It wasn't till I got closer that I saw he was simply staring at his phone the screen blank.

"Sokka, you ok?" I spoke softly hoping not to scare him. He looked at me with a blank look before focusing on my face.

"I guess as ok as I can be," he said which just made me worry. I sat beside him not saying a word. This is just what we did. I didn't force him to talk and waited until he was ready. It must have weighed heavy on his chest because I didn't have to wait long.

"Yue changed her phone number."

"That's rough buddy," I replied but for some reason it made him laugh. "What?"

"Is adding buddy at the end of the sentence your way of trying to comfort me?" He asked with a small smile. I smiled back and shrugged.

"Is it working?"

"Yeah, I guess it kinda did." He said before looking back at his phone. "I was just hoping that once we finished everything with your father she might be able to come back. This was the first time I tried calling her but I guess it explains why she didn't answer my texts. Maybe she has really moved on. Maybe she really has moved to the moon."

At first, I was confused at his choice of words until their last argument came to mind. I was lost for words, simply continuing to sit by him. I knew he didn't expect me to give some speech about not giving up. That was Katara's job. From me, he expected the hard truth.

"There is no point in trying to guess why she did it or what she's doing because you'll never know." I said as gently as I could, "you could come up with a million different scenarios but will never be sure until you talk to her." Sokka looked at me in shock as if he thought I was going to tell him to rush to Yue and as much as I wanted to it was the same as Katara. "You will get your answer. . . someday. Right now we have a plan we need to follow. Your plan."

He continued to stare at me. I sat there and looked back hoping that he understood what I meant. Not that he needed to give up just that he needed to wait. It was just as Katara and I had agreed on but for him so much harder. Katara and I had talked and both knew about the situation. Sokka and Yue couldn't do that and we had no idea if Yue even knew what was going on at the school. I can't even try to understand what Sokka was going through but as much as I hated it, I did understand duty. At least this time, it was my choice.

I thought it would get uncomfortable to look Sokka dead on but it never did. Finally, he nodded and stood up. He helped me to my feet before running off without another word. Huh, maybe I was getting better at this emotional experience thing.